OAKLAND — Chad Gaudin has been an absolute revelation as a starter this season for the A’s.

The latest example took place Monday night when Gaudin allowed one unearned run and four hits in 6ª innings as the A’s beat the Texas Rangers 5-3 in front of 18,230 at McAfee Coliseum.

Gaudin (5-1) lowered his ERA to 2.32, second-best in the American League behind teammate Dan Haren. In 66 innings the right-hander has allowed 57 hits, walked 23 and struck out 46. Most impressively, he’s allowed only two home runs — both in his first start on April 5.

“He throws low to mid-90s with movement,” A’s manager Bob Geren said of Gaudin. “His delivery is not real classic, but the ball runs. Velocity and movement, he has those naturally. And he’s a competitor. … He’s a tough guy who goes after hitters.”

The Rangers, managed by longtime and well-respected A’s coach Ron Washington, had their chance in the first inning as Gaudin battled uncharacteristic wildness. But with the bases loaded and two out, Marlon Byrd grounded out to third to end the inning.

“Early on I was too careful,” Gaudin said. “After that I started minimizing my pitches, throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes, make them put it in play.”

The A’s jumped on Texas starter Robinson Tejeda for five runs in the first three innings and made it hold up.

Rookie Travis Buck, the A’s second batter of the game, stroked an opposite-field home run to left in the bottom of the first to put the A’s on top 1-0.

“Another impressive opposite-field home run,” Geren said. “That tells you what kind of hitter he can become.”

Bobby Crosby doubled to left in the second and Jack Cust broke out of his 0-for-17 slump with a blast off the center-field fence for an RBI double.

Shannon Stewart and Buck drew walks in the third. They moved up to second and third on Nick Swisher’s fly out to deep center. Tejeda induced cleanup hitter Dan Johnson to pop out to shortstop for the second out, but Eric Chavez, in a 1-of-22 swoon that had made his average plummet below .230, roped a shot over the right-field wall for a three-run homer and a 5-0 lead.

Gaudin was pulled in the seventh after making 107 pitches, and the A’s needed to get seven outs from a bullpen minus Huston Street and Justin Duchscherer, and that got ticklish.

Jay Marshall came on in the seventh to retire Kenny Lofton for the third out. But he gave up a leadoff double in the eighth to Ramon Vasquez, playing third base in place of the disabled Hank Blalock. Kiko Calero, a near lock for the A’s in the eighth inning last year and the year before, allowed all three batters he faced to reach base.

“Kiko didn’t have it tonight, I don’t know why,” Geren said. “He wasn’t getting the ball where he wanted to.”

So the A’s had to call on Colby Lewis, he of the 20.77 ERA in two appearances, to come in with the bases loaded and none out in a 5-2 game.

Lewis got Byrd to fly to center for the first out with a run scoring but hit Ian Kinsler with a 1-2 pitch to re-load the bases. That brought up Sammy Sosa, with 598 career homers, to pinch hit for Nelson Cruz. No problem. Lewis struck out Sosa on a 2-2 pitch, then got Gerald Laird, another pinch hitter, to foul out to first.

Newly installed closer Alan Embree came on for the ninth and retired Lofton on a fly to left. Vasquez lined to center where Swisher made a diving catch. Then Michael Young struck out swinging as Embree got his third save of the season.

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